Survival of the Fittest
by JordanEskins
Summary: Aiden is a man in the midst of the apocalyptic world, he is willing to do anything to survive in the new world and keep his wife and son safe, what will they be up against? Will they survive? Please review, I like to know if you enjoy it or not. Rated M just in case
1. The Fight Begins

**Author's note: All characters and plotlines are mine.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead (Just in Case)**

**Hope You Enjoy!**

Chapter 1- The fight begins.

The scream triggered my eyes, they burst open. I then pushed myself out of bed, I noticed that my wife wasn't next to me but I had to run to the origin of the scream, my son, Jaxson. I entered his room where he was sat upright, head in his hands. I sat beside him, patted his back and he looked at me, with tears in his eyes. He was a nine year old boy who had a nightmare.

He had been having those more often recently; they are of his mother dying. I had already been to therapists but they always ask if he's under stress; I say no but they don't believe me. Jaxson wiped his eyes and wrapped his arms around me, I told him to get dressed, scuffled his flaxen hair and left.

When I went downstairs, I noticed a note on the refrigerator. 'Gone to the Supermarket, won't be long, love Carolynne xxx' I expected as much. Carolynne always got up earlier than I and she does things to occupy her mind, today was the grocery shopping. I began to make cereal as Jaxson came downstairs, he asked me could he go out the back garden, I agreed.

He's always had an active imagination. From the age of seven he's loved the back garden; he built a fort made out of leftover cardboard. After he'd finished playing, he comes in and tells me and Carolynne what adventures he'd been on. One day he'd be slaying dragons and the other he would be in a rock band, playing at Wembley.

I heard him yell from the garden but I ignored it, screams were normal when he was playing whether it'd be en guard or expelliarmus; but this time, it was just a yell. I assumed he was a frightened villager in a dragon attack so I just poured my milk when the door slammed open; the words rang in my ear.

"Dad there's a monster." He bellowed. I wanted to believe that it was just his imagination but I could tell by the look on his face that there was something out there, whatever it was. I scurried to the window; that's when I saw it.

It was a man, well, it looked like one but it had blood all over its mouth and it had ripped clothes. It looked like it hadn't showered for years. It looked… Dead. I made eye contact with it as it approached the door, when it saw me, its mouth opened to reveal a pit of rotten teeth.

It began smashing the door, trying to break it down, I pushed against it but it was so strong. The door swung open, hitting me against the wall; the monster approached me, mouth open when Jaxson screamed. It turned to look at him and ran towards him. It pulled Jaxson's hair and tried to what looked like, eat him.

I surveyed the room for something to hit it with when I saw a broom leaning against the fridge; I picked it up and swung it at the monster's head. It fell to the floor. Jaxson ran to me and wrapped his arms around me.

Still in shock, my first reaction was to switch the news on, Jaxson paced around the room as I stood right in front of the T.V, where I was met by a Breaking News story. I pulled Jaxson to sit on the couch beside me.

The newsreader, who normally had a child-like grin slapped on her face; was staring blankly into the camera, and even her thick layers of make-up could not hide how ghostly pale her face was. Her blue lips slowly separated to say…

"There is a virus that is plaguing the world; it is making the dead come back to life, rendering them dangerous and unintelligent. The human population is rapidly decreasing and we urge you to find safety immediately, and at all costs; don't leave your homes."

Me and Jaxson exchanged looks and we then both stared at the thing in the kitchen. Jaxson walked towards it.

"So this was a person?" I didn't know how to answer him; I stood beside him, and his bright, cerulean coloured eyes made me feel guilty for killing it. I nodded as Jaxson noticed the note on the fridge and screamed "Mom!"

I had forgotten about her, she was out in the newly plagued world. What if she was attacked by one of those things? Is she safe? I knew I had to go and get her, whatever it took.

"Is it safe out there?" Jaxson asked and again; I had no answers. Instead, I looked out if the front window into the street where I could never prepare myself for what I saw.

There stood my next door neighbour, Cassie. She was just rocking back and forth directly in front of the window. She was one of them. She had her work uniform on, she was probably just leaving. Jaxson walked behind me and gasped loudly, catching her attention.

The zombified version of Cassie began turning around, slowly. I pushed Jaxson onto the floor and knelt down beside him, he began to whimper so I placed my finger on his mouth.

I could no longer hear the excessive moaning of Cassie so I slowly began to rise, I had just peered my head into sight when something grabbed my hair, I saw that it was Cassie. I yanked her arms off my head and it took a chunk of hair with it.

I took Jaxson's hand and lead him out through the back door. The fences that separated us from the street of neighbours were broken down into pieces. Jaxson and I began walking in the path of the neighbouring gardens.

Jaxson tugged on my arm and looked up to me. "Where are we going dad?" He asked. I knelt down and put my arms on his shoulders.

"We're off to get your mother."


	2. Lost Love

Chapter 2- Lost Love

We were about half a mile away from the supermarket and we hadn't seen another zombie. I didn't know what to expect when we got there, a part of me thought that she'd be standing there, with her grocery bags on each arm, waiting for use to take her home.

But the reality was far from anything I thought.

"So that's where all the zombies went." Jaxson quietly said; he was right. We looked upon the place where my wife last was, but this time; it was covered in zombies. They were everywhere. Jaxson began to whimper.

I began thinking that I would never see Carolynne again; no-one could survive the hundreds of corpses that were wandering around the building. I was at a loss what to do; when I felt a tug at my sleeve.

"Maybe mom's gone to Grandma's, to go and find her; maybe she had the same idea as us." It was a long shot but it was just a relief to hear that Carolynne could still be alive, however thin the chances were.

"Yes, she must have." I assured Jaxson; the smile that I miss came back for a brief moment, and then we realised that there were human-eating beasts around every corner now.

We began walking to Carolynne's mother Edith's home; it's a couple of streets away. On the way there, neither I nor Jaxson spoke, there was nothing we could say. We were still adapting to the thought of the dead resurrecting.

As we turned the corner into the street where Edith lived, we heard a scream. It came from Edith's house. We ran closer when we were met by a zombie female, trying to get into the window, it jolted when it heard us coming.

I was relieved that it wasn't Carolynne.

It began stammering towards us. I told Jaxson to get back as it stretched its arms out. I looked around and saw a brick a bit of the way behind me, so I began to walk backwards towards it. The beast seemed to get more excited by the chase. Its white eyes staring at me and its mouth attempting to smile but was stopped by the rotting of its jaw.

Just as it went to put its rotten, green hands around my throat; I fell to the ground. The zombie fell on top of me and began attempting to nibble on my flesh.

One of my arms was keeping me from being eaten and the other was scurrying across the ground looking for the brick, but it was nowhere near me.

I was losing all my strength, and was about to be over powered when I heard Jaxson footsteps approaching.

Then I saw a shadow of the brick I was searching for. It came down and smashed the zombie in the head. It now lay on top of me.

I pushed it off and stood up where I was met by my vulnerable son, holding the brick, he dropped it and hugged me. I whispered thank you into his ear.

"Let's go and get mum!" he said, I couldn't knock his enthusiasm but I had to tell him that the chances were slim. He simply replied with. "Mom wouldn't leave us." That left me with great hope.

We arrived at Edith's house and it was empty, the house must have been looted. Jaxson and I began looking around the house, there were all of Edith's personal ornaments, that she prized and loved so much, smashed on the floor.

Jaxson called me; he was holding a shattered photo frame. The ripped up photograph inside was that of Carolynne and me on our wedding day, she was so beautiful.

Her chocolate eyes shone with the reflection of the sun and her brunette hair was a picture of perfection. And to top it all off, the dress was just stunning.

The tears began to tumble down my face, I kept wiping them off but I couldn't stop the flood. But then I heard a noise echo around the house. "Mum!" Jaxson shouted, he began to run up the stairs, I tried to grab him to stop but he was too quick, instead, I followed him. He crashed open Edith's bedroom door where we were met by a relieving sight.

Carolynne was alive!

She was sat on the bed holding a painting of her mother when she saw Jaxson come in. Upon seeing him she broke down in tears. Jaxson dived onto the bed and they exchanged hugs. Carolynne saw we enter the room.

"I thought I'd never see you again Aiden." She cried I joined them on the bed and we shared a family moment. I tried not to ask but Jaxson sat up.

"How's Grandma Edith?" He asked. Carolynne wiped her tears and placed her hands on his shoulders; she forced a smile and put on a cheery voice.

"Grandma's just gone out, she told me that she's safe and we'll see her soon." I was afraid that Jaxson would see through the lie but instead he just smiled and said 'okay.'

Carolynne stood up and I followed her, she held my hand and kissed my cheek. I brushed her hair behind her ears and for a second, everything seemed normal.

"I thought I'd never see you again." I said. She pushed her head into my shoulder and looked up; she saw the bald patch that now sat on the right-hand side of my head.

"What happened?" she whispered, I told her of the trouble we had that morning; and how I saw our neighbour that tried to kill me, and I told her about the news broadcast that we saw. She simply looked at me and laughed.

"I don't know why I was worried; I should've known I couldn't have got rid of you that easily, even with the world ending." We both shared a laugh and for that moment, I thought everything was going to turn out fine, until…

"Dad, more monsters are coming!" Jaxson screamed, looking out of the window. We hurried to see a group of ten zombies clawing at the front door.

"What do we do?" Carolynne screamed. The zombies hadn't entered the house yet so I had to make a plan. I took Carolynne and Jaxson out of the bedroom and downstairs; I hid them into the kitchen.

"You have to both wait here and when it's safe, get out of the house." I explained.

"But Aiden-" Carolynne said.

"No buts." I interrupted, "Just trust me."

I ran upstairs just before the door got knocked down by the zombies. They began to go into the kitchen when I interrupted with screaming. Of course , they noticed me and followed me upstairs; that was my plan.

I took them onto the landing when I ran back into Edith's bedroom and shut the door; I didn't have time to make a plan; they had already nearly broken down the door.

I heard a car going past the house and was followed by screams. I looked out the window to see my wife and child in safety, getting into a blue Audi.

The driver, who was a man in his twenties, got out of the car and waved at me. I opened the window when he screamed.

"Jump on!" It was the plan I had been waiting for; this man was our saviour. The zombies beat down the door so I had no time to contemplate. I dived out the window and landed on top of the car, just before one grabbed my neck.

I had twisted my ankle and was badly injured but the man took me off the roof, and put me in the back seat. We were safe.


	3. New Hope

Chapter 3- New Hope

I was sprawled out on the back seat of this man's car, along with Jaxson who was panting. Carolynne sat in the front with the man, she turned and saw that I was okay, she sighed in relief.

"Thank you." I croaked. He turned his head around and smiled. I began to fix myself into an upright position on the seat.

"You're lucky it didn't end the other way." The man said, almost smugly. I looked out the window to see dozens of those monsters strolling around aimlessly on the pavements.

"I knew this was coming." The man sighed, seeing in the mirror that I was glued to the window. I looked back to him where I saw his cheeks move as if he was smiling, he let out a dry laugh.

"How did you know this was going to happen?" Carolynne asked. Jaxson poked me when he noticed an old woman being grabbed by a monster. We both gasped and he let out a weep.

"The lightfields predicted it millions of years ago, the dead rising to take over the Earth, it's just I was smart enough to believe it." There was a silence; no-one knew what to say.

"I'm Jaxson and I'm nine." He announced. He looked at me, puppy-eyed, it may have been stupid but it was the easiest way to break the ice.

"I'm Aiden, I'm twenty-seven." I exhaled.

"Okay then, I'm Carolynne and let's just say that I've been older than eighteen for six years." I don't know how many times I've heard her say that but the man driving sniggered.

"Well, I'm Jayden and I'm twenty-nine." He told us.

"Where are we going Jayden?" Jaxson asked. A zombie that must've been a young girl drew my attention. It was trapped in a tyre swing, stuck in the middle.

"We're heading to the nursery a couple of streets away; it's where my group is." We were all shocked of the news.

"So there are others?" Carolynne asked, surprised.

"This morning, I rounded up three people around where I live, Scarlett, Aubree and Eli; along with my brother, Benji, we headed to the school. Another two people then came later, Xavier and this older woman Edith."

Upon him saying that, all three of our eyes lit up, it was a relief to hear.

"Did you say Edith?" Carolynne asked.

"Yes, she was very weak when they came back but Xavier fixed her up, he's practised medicine for a couple of years." He explained.

"Edith is my mother." Carolynne announced. Everyone was safe.

Edith was the only other family we had. Carolynne and I were both only children and my both parents died with heart problems and her father died from lung cancer.

"Small world." Jayden sniggered. "We have a couple of week's supply of food and water so we should be fine until it quiets down a bit.

There was silence until we got to the nursery, it seemed like a place of paradise from what we had witnessed today, the miniature paintings just untouched, for a moment it made me think nothing had happened.

We entered where we were met by everyone that Jayden described in the car. Scarlett, with her deep red hair that was shaped in a bow on the top of her head, light complexion and green eyes. Aubree and Eli, who looked alike with their dark complexion, brown hair, slightly jaunted noses and thick lips.

Then there was Benji, who was obviously Jayden's younger brother with the whole blond hair and blue eyed look. The only difference was what Carolynne would call Jayden's 'designer stubble'. Xavier had jet black hair and what looked like fully black eyes.

And there was Edith, with her white/gray hair cut short. Carolynne ran over to her, crying. I left her to catch up as Jayden announced us to the group.

"Hey guys, these are Jaxson, Carolynne and Aiden." I met a greeted the bunch and heard of their stories, how they were woken up by the what they called, 'lurkers' or were run out of their homes by a hoard of them.

After the initial chit-chat, I went to speak with Jayden.

"So what's the setup here then?" He gestured for me to follow him around. He took me down the corridor where all the classrooms were. He told me which class was turned into whose bedroom. Jaxson, Carolynne and I were at the end of the corridor.

"We have four pistols; I'm in charge of one, Benji another, Xavier the third and Eli the fourth." He told me as we went back to the play room. I noticed that Xavier looked distressed, he saw that we'd come back and approached us.

"I think we need to get more medical supplies." He announced. Jayden looked shocked, he walked off.

"We have enough now, don't worry." He said.

"But I'm frightened that if something happens to anyone, our supplies would be low, and as time goes on, the fight will get harder." Jayden sat down and looked at me.

"What do you think Aiden?" He asked, Xavier looked at me, he looked vunerable.

"I think he has a point, we have to take each day as it comes now. I'm completely willing to go with someone to collect what's needed." Jayden nodded in agreement with me.

"Okay then, tomorrow, Aiden and I will go to the chemist that's a couple of miles down the road from here; we'll collect some anti-biotics and painkillers." Jayden walked off when Xavier thanked him.

Night came and we all sat down to cereal, the milk came from the refrigerator in the staff room. We all sat together apart from Jayden and Benji, who were in their own room.

Eli sat with his own pistol that I noticed was engraved with a message of some kind.

"Hey Eli, do you mind if I take your gun out to get supplies tomorrow." A small gasp echoed around the table. Eli stayed silent.

"You can take mine if you want." Xavier explained; I nodded. He passed the gun over to me; I put it inside my trousers and covered it with my shirt.

We began to eat again when Eli began speaking, he picked up his pistol and began playing with it and stroking it like a pup.

"Well, this here gun was going to be a present to my daughter." He explained, "Before I couldn't see her anymore."

"What do you mean?" Jaxson asked; milk on his chin.

"Well, the mother denied me access of her when she was just your age." He showed the gun to me. "I wrote dad on it but I just couldn't give it to her, her mother stopped me."

We finished our cereal as Jayden shouted 'lights out' to everyone, so we journeyed into our rooms; ours was room 102- Mrs Tully.

We made ourselves comfortable and made beds on the floor using sheets we found lying about. We sat on the beds when we heard a small groan coming from the closet in the room. Carolynne and Jaxson scrambled back as I stood up facing the door.

The groaning got louder as I got closer. My hand reached for the handle.

"Stay back!" I whispered forcefully to my wife and child. They nodded as I twisted the handle. I yanked open the door when I was met by a jawless lurker.

Carolynne screamed as it ran towards me with its arms out ready to grab my hair. I reached for Xavier's gun in my trousers and pulled it out on the lurker, I pulled the trigger and hit it in the chest it fell to the floor.

I turned to Carolynne and Jaxson to tell them not to worry where I was met by Jaxson's little saddened face. He pointed for me to turn around and when I did; the lurker was behind me.

I was in shock. How didn't it die… or re-die?

Jayden crashed through the door with his gun in hand. He hit the lurker on the head which made it fall. He then placed his boot on its right, rotten eye and pushed down, killing it for good.

"What happened?" He screamed angrily at the three of us. Carolynne stood up and faced him.

"There was one in the closet, what were we supposed to do, let it kill us?" Jaxson turned away and began to walk off.

"It'll only die if you hit it in the head, any other place is completely pointless, it won't do anything." And with that he left the room.

Carolynne, Jaxson and I took a while but eventually got comfortable in the room with the rotting corpse.

"I think that was the teacher." Carolynne whispered to me, I nodded in agreement because I saw the nametag on her chest where I shot her.

At last, we got comfortable, Jaxson was sleeping and Carolynne and I lay facing one another, I began to fall to sleep when she touched my cheek.

"Don't go tomorrow." All day she hadn't shown any interest in whether I leave or not but she must've been keeping in her feelings until this moment.

"I'll be fine." Of course I was worried but I couldn't show her that I was. I just smiled and brushed through her flowing hair.

"Promise me you'll be okay."

"I promise."


	4. Suicide Mission

Chapter 4- Suicide Mission.

Jayden and I were getting ready to leave for supplies; he had a rucksack on his back that was to keep the supplies in, his gun fully loaded and he was ready to go. Before we left, Carolynne and Jaxson came to say goodbye, they were worried for me; I told them they didn't have to be.

I gave Carolynne and Jaxson a kiss and hug before Jayden gave me some ammunition and we left the Nursery.

Jayden told me that we were going in his car that we'd driven in previously. I sat in the front and we drove off.

"So about what happened last night." I stumbled. Jayden just seemed to ignore me. He fixed his mirror.

"I've told Benji to get the lurker out of your room for your wife and kid." He explained

"Thanks." I replied.

"As long as something like that doesn't happen again, we'll get along fine." He snapped, I nodded and looked out the window.

There were many more lurkers around today than yesterday. The streets were covered, they would be looking at the car as we passed, chasing it for a while then their attention would be drawn elsewhere.

"Yeah, they're multiplying day-by-day and it won't stop. A word of advice, only shoot when you have to; otherwise, use other ways to kill them; like I did last night."

We arrived at the chemist where I was met by a massive surprise. There were dozens of lurkers strolling around the building. I didn't know what to do.

"Follow me and don't say anything." Jayden ordered. We got out of the car, quietly closed the doors and knelt beside the car. Jayden wiggled his finger and ran over to a nearby tree, I followed him.

He used his hand to tell me to stay put behind the tree when we ran across the grassy tump that held the bunch of lurkers below it. He took the rucksack off and gave it to me.

I witnessed Jayden running straight down into the hoard. He was yelling for them to follow him and when they did notice him, they began to chase.

"Now Aiden, get the stuff." Jayden bellowed as he ran off with dozens of flesh eating monsters behind him ready to kill.

I dashed down the hill to where there were no longer any lurkers around. I kicked open the front door to the chemist and was met with a medicine hotspot.

I ran around collecting all the medication we needed and stuffed it in the rucksack. I had a final look around to see if there was anything worth grabbing and got ready to leave. I headed for the door when something grabbed my leg.

I shot around to see that it was a lurker with what looked like a broken leg. It was chomping its jaws and tried to bite my leg, I pulled away. It tried to move but it couldn't get up off the ground.

It was horrible thinking that this was a human being and now what state it was in. I had images of Jaxson and Carolynne being one of these things. I felt inclined to put it out of its misery.

I pulled out the gun from my trousers and placed it to its forehead, a tear rolled down my cheek as I pulled the trigger, the shot echoed around the building. I picked up the rucksack when Jayden burst through the door.

"What've you done? I told you not to shoot!" He screamed at me.

"I'm sorry." I replied, I didn't know what I'd done wrong and Jayden was getting very agitated.

"You should know that loud noises attract the lurkers." I grabbed the rucksack out of my hands. "Come on!" He screamed.

We ran out of the building where we were met by a lurker. Without thinking, Jayden smashed the lurker on the head with his pistol and killed it.

"Look over there." I yelled, there was a hoard of lurkers coming towards us.

"We have to go… Now!" Jayden bellowed, we began to run back to the car, we were ahead of the lurkers, out of trouble.

We got into the car and drove off; we had escaped the flesh eating beings that were after us. I began to look through the bag, to keep my mind occupied.

"You done good, but you're putting all of us at risk. Just be wearier next time." I nodded and put the meds back away.

"We should be fine for meds now." I assured, he agreed with me. I was getting further surprised by how many lurkers were in the streets.

When we arrived back at the nursery, Carolynne and Jaxson ran out to comfort me. They noticed that my trousers were ripped because of the lurker in the chemist.

"What happened?" Carolynne asked as she rubbed my arm. Jaxson knelt down to get a closer look.

"I'm fine, honestly. Didn't I promise you I'd come back untouched." Jaxson stood back up and we shared a family hug.

"Aiden; come in here, quick!" Edith shouted from the nursery entrance. The three of us ran in where we saw Jayden, holding a gun against a young man and woman.

"What are you doing here? This nursery is ours!" Jayden screamed.

"We don't mean to impose anything on you people but we just want somewhere safe to sleep tonight, we had a rough night last night." The girl explained.

"Well we don't need any more mouths to feed so just leave and no one will get hurt." Jayden pushed the gun towards the man's forehead.

"Jayden, just put the gun down, we can talk through this!" Eli stepped forward and told Jayden. "We can't just push people out on the street."

Carolynne patted me on the back, I knew I had to say something, Jayden wasn't thinking straight. I walked towards him and put my hand on his shoulder.

"He has a point, come on just put the gun down." I exclaimed. Jayden turned his head to look at me then slowly placed his gun down on the table beside him.

"I want to know who you are and where you come from." Jayden snapped, Scarlett approached and took away the gun that Jayden had put down.

"I'm Chase and this is my girlfriend Madison." The boy, who had blond, spiky hair and chocolate brown eyes explained.

"We come from Srecville; it's a little town that's about ten miles down the road. It was overrun when we left and we had to sleep in the forest last night; we just want to be safe. We've been driving around all day looking for solace." Madison, who had a ginger afro, told us.

"That may be, but we only have enough supplies for the group now to survive a couple of weeks." Jayden said, sitting down on the table.

"That's fine, I can go out scavenging tomorrow, please; let us stay we will show you that we are valuable." Chase exclaimed.

"I'll go with him if you want Jayden; we can go to that supermarket we passed on the way here to collect some extra food and water so we can stay here for longer." Eli assured.

"I suppose that could work." Jayden sniggered.

"I'll show them to their room." Scarlett explained. The three of them left the room and she took them down the corridor.

"I hope you're right about this you two." Jayden said to Eli and me. He and Benji then left for their bedroom. Aubree, Eli and Xavier left for their rooms.

"It's getting late now, let's go to bed." Carolynne exclaimed. Carolynne, Jaxson, Edith and I then went to our respective bedrooms.

We entered the room and they both commented on the removal of the lurker and I told them how Jayden asked Benji to get rid of it.

Carolynne and I hugged together on our make-shift bed. We got comfortable before she whispered in my ear.

"What happened to Jayden? He seemed so nice when he picked us up but the look in his eye seemed so… Evil."

I knew exactly what she meant. It's almost as if he had a split personality. As soon as the safety of anyone was in jeopardy, he becomes an emotionless haven.

I nodded and we fell asleep in each other's arms.


	5. Nowhere is Safe

Chapter 5- Nowhere is Safe.

We were all stood in the play area, apart from Jayden, as Eli and Chase were getting ready to leave.

"Do you have a gun to use Chase?" I asked him. He didn't so I gave him mine that was given to me by Xavier.

"Thank you, for everything." Chase said as he put the supply rucksack on his back. He and Eli said their goodbyes and then left in Chase and Madison's car.

"I hope they'll be okay, I didn't want him going off like that today." Madison told Carolynne and me. "I nearly lost him yesterday but luckily, we got away."

"I'm sure he'll be fine, he has Eli with him anyway." Aubree said as she walked towards us. "He was telling me he has experience in the army, he'll protect Chase, no matter what."

"And being one of the oldest in the group he'll be experienced." Carolynne added.

We began with idle chit-chat when he heard a noise from the playground out back; Edith was screaming for help, we all ran out to see that she was being attacked by a lurker.

Carolynne tried to get rid of the lurker but couldn't do anything without a gun; I ran towards it and ripped its arms of Edith's shoulders.

Jayden ran out, gun in hand; I pushed the lurker towards him for him to kill it. He smashed the gun in its eye, knocking it onto the ground; killing it.

Carolynne ran over to her mother to comfort her, she cried into her shoulder. Edith had been hanging up the clothes if people who brought extra clothing.

"Are you okay Edith?" I asked, she nodded in reply. Carolynne pushed away from her mother and faced Jayden.

"No, it's not okay! I want to learn how to shoot." She insisted.

"I would like to too." Aubree added.

"I do agree it would be in the best interest of the group in case of emergencies." Xavier said as he came through the door into the playground.

"I'm willing to teach someone." I explained.

"Let me think about it-"

"No, I have to learn, I'm not letting my mother get into any danger again!" Carolynne snapped at him. He scratched his chin.

"Okay, I will allow it with one term." He announced.

"What's that?" Carolynne questioned.

"That you girls won't go on any outings." Jayden exclaimed. Carolynne nodded and he walked back inside the nursery.

_/ \\_

Hours past and we heard the car pulling in. A worried Madison let off a shriek of relief seeing her partner coming back in, smile on his face.

Followed by Eli, the two boys showed us the crates of food and drink that they had collected. Madison ran over to him and wrapper her arms around him.

"Did you kill any?" Madison whispered into his ear. He brushed his fingers through her hair and just couldn't get the words out. The two of them went into their room to speak about what had happened.

Jayden came out of his room, Benji beside him. Eli showed Jayden proudly what they had brought back. Xavier and Aubree where in awe of the feast that would keep us alive for months.

"You did well Eli, I underestimated you." Jayden exclaimed. "Where's the kid?" he continued, surveying the supplies.

"He's gone into the room with Maddie."

"Fine."

Xavier came towards Eli and explained the plans of teaching the girls how to shoot, he decided that we should use the used bottles as targets.

We journeyed out into the playground and lined the bottles up to each female. I was helping Carolynne, Eli was teaching Aubree, Benji helped Scarlett and when they came out, Chase helped Maddie.

"Dad, can I learn?" Jaxson asked me, standing beside Jayden and Edith who were looking on. I didn't think that he was ready and I didn't want Jaxson to be put in charge of a weapon.

"Buddy, there are not enough weapons to go around." Jaxson didn't like hearing that, he knew that he could learn if I'd wanted him to. He ran back into the nursery.

"I'll go and talk to him Aiden, don't worry." Edith followed him inside.

The respective partners began to shoot the targets; Aubree shot hers off straight away, a natural. Scarlett needed a bit of help but got it. Madison needed a lot of help and was still struggling.

"Now put you arms out straight on concentrate on your target." I instructed Carolynne. She done as I said and after I adjusted the position she took her first shot, a miss.

She began to get frustrated but I pulled her hair back behind her ears and snuggled closer and whispered in her ear.

"Just concentrate." She turned her head and gave me a seductive smile. This was the first time we had gotten romantic in a long while, I had missed the feeling.

She waited a while and then shot, the bullet hit the bottle right in the middle. Carolynne turned and kissed me on the lips. She went to see the bottle. Picking it up, she showed me the hole that she made.

"Now let's try and hit the top, that's where you'll be aiming." We tried the shot, it took her a while but we got it in the end, she could now hit the top of the bottle effortlessly.

_/ \\_

That night, we were all sat around the table eating crisp sandwiches, they tasted delicious now that we were rationing for one meal a day for each of us.

"Jayden, I have a question to ask." Xavier's quiet voice broke the loud silence.

"What's wrong boy?" Jayden said in his caring voice.

"With what happened today, with Edith, I think that we should take extra care of the building." Xavier explained.

"What? You don't think that I can look after all of you?" Jayden bellowed, slamming his fists on the table.

"He doesn't think that at all." Eli assured. We just want to ask about a patrol." I was actually think of the idea myself.

"A patrol, on what grounds to we patrol." Jayden asked.

"I suggest we take shifts on the roof, we have a gun to just make sure that no lurkers can get in and nothing happens again like what happened today." Xavier exclaimed.

"It seems reasonable enough." Scarlett concurred.

"I'll go on duty tomorrow." Aubree suggested. Jayden stood up with an angry look slapped on his face.

"Absolutely not!" Jayden snapped, leaving for his room without leaving time for discussion. Benji followed him.

We spent the rest of the night in an awkward silence until we went into bed. Jaxson fell asleep almost immediately; he chose to ignore me after the earlier incident. I just assumed it would all blow over.

I went to drop off to sleep, turned away from Carolynne when I felt her hand reach over to me. She rubbed my stomach and then reached down into my trouser. I turned over and we began making love.


	6. 32 and counting

Chapter 6- The need for help.

I awoke to the feel of Carolynne's hand grasping my shirt. I smiled as I turned to look at her stunning face. I brushed her highlighted chestnut fringe out of her eye and we shared a kiss.

As things seemed to be normal, I saw that Jaxson's bed was empty. I pushed Carolynne away and jolted from under my sheets.

I began shaking all over, both Carolynne and I pulled over his bed to double-check he wasn't hiding, he wasn't. We charged through the door and ran into the play area.

"Jaxson's gon-"Before I had time to finish, I noticed my innocent little boy playing on the floor, he had a plastic ball in one hand and a tennis racquet in the other.

Carolynne and I sighed in relief and ran over to him. "What's wrong mom?" He asked Carolynne, she began crying into his shoulder.

"He woke up about an hour ago- had a bad dream." Scarlett, hair as pristine as ever, perched into a bow; explained as she walked almost model-like into the room."

"Did you have a bad dream Jaxson?" Carolynne asked, Jaxson nodded. She brushed her hand through his hair. Scarlett called me from the side, I stood up and walked towards her.

"Jaxson had a nightmare that… That." Scarlett stuttered, it was obvious that she was too scared to tell me but I knew.

"Carolynne died." Scarlett nodded to answer, she took a glance over to the mother and son playing like the whole world wasn't ruined. She looked back at me, her eyes looked concerned.

"I'll have a talk with the little guy see what's bothering him." She pulled the two segments of her hair apart and let off a sigh. "I know what he's going through."

I gave her a puzzled look, this was the first time I had a real conversation with Scarlett, I knew nothing of her past.

"When I was Jaxson's age, I had nightmares every day of the week, it came to the point that I would keep myself awake just so I didn't have to dream." Scarlett closed her eyes and seemed to transport into her own frame of mind.

"Jaxson has been dreaming about Carolynne dying a lot, the doctors say it's our fault and they won't do anything about it."

Scarlett opened her eyes and nodded in solace and walked over to Carolynne and Jaxson, who were wrestling on the mat. Xavier climbed down the ladder that led to the roof, he was just finishing his patrol.

"Much action?" I asked him, he was shocked to see that four of us were awake but just spun around to look at me.

"Not really, one or two here and there but I didn't have to shoot my gun so we should be fine until Eli goes up. Speaking of which, I should go and wake him"

Xavier, tired, hobbled off down into the corridor to go and awaken the next scheduled patroller. I saw that the three on the mat were enjoying themselves so I decided to go and sit by the window.

I lay down, slouched on the window sill. I was admiring the desolate beauty outside, it all seemed calm outside. I jolted at the sight of a paper bag flowing past the window; what used to seem so tranquil was now shocking in this new, deathly quiet world.

A quiet groan echoed outside. I slowly reacted and pushed my ear against the glass. There was another groan that commanded my attention to the front gate, where there stood a lurker. Behind it were another and another, and another.

I couldn't believe it, Xavier said that he had cleared the area. I shot up from the window sill and charged through to the corridor.

"What's wrong honey?" Carolynne asked. I saw a flash of the three of them standing, looking concerned.

"Look after them, Scarlett." I somehow knew that I could entrust her with my family's life. I saw her get them down onto the ground, I turned and ran down the corridor.

I got to the room where Eli and Xavier were conversing. They turned to look at me and Eli knew exactly what I was going to say, he pulled out his gun before I said it.

"Lurker outside!" I screamed, Eli ran out of the room immediately and headed to the roof. Xavier came to me.

"There weren't any out there…"

"Just give me the gun." Xavier took the gun out and I snatched it from his hand, now was not the time to be polite!

Running back through the corridor, I screamed Jayden's name, alerting him of what was happening. I heard rustling from his room but that's about all.

I got back into the play area, where I saw Scarlett and my family hidden under a table. They were shocked to see me this anxious, this was my first time in control of what was going to happen.

"What's happening Aiden?" Carolynne screamed.

"Lurkers everywhere." The three of them looked shocked as I dived for the ladder to head to the roof .

The first sight I saw as I peered my head over the roof view was Eli, shooting round of ammo into the playground. I pulled my body onto the roof where I was frozen in shock. Dozens of lurkers where hoarded into the playground, yards away from entering our haven.

"Don't just stand there, help!" Eli bellowed, I threw myself to the edge of the roof and aimed my pistol down at the hoard.

Repeated rounds were shot by both me and Eli. The lurkers were dropping but even more were coming.

Benji and Jayden climbed onto the roof, joining us in battle with these flesh eaters. All of our power was on the roof, but all that was happening was the corpse count increasing.

"The gunshots are just attracting more lurkers, Benji, Eli stay here and Aiden come with me." I didn't know what he was planning but I didn't question him. We left the two men shooting the undead on the roof. We were back in the play area.

"Follow me." Jayden made his way out of the play are were my family was scared.

"Scarlett, take them to your room, we've got everything under control." They sympathetically looked at me, they understood my nervousness.

"But Aiden." Carolynne whined.

"Just do it, please." I snapped. I left them there to follow Jayden who now stood at the entrance, ready for combat. He had picked up a pair of scissors from the desk beside the door. He gestured for me to get the box of pencils beside him. I picked them up and armed myself.

"Is everyone out of there." Jayden asked me, with his interests prioritising on their safety. I nodded in reply. "Ready?" he asked.

I pulled my stance back, ready for battle. He put his hands, tightly on the plank of wood that was holding the door shut. He yanked it off and I slammed my foot against it, pushing it open and revealing the dozens of lurkers who were ready to kill both Jayden and I.

"Let's go!" Jayden yelled. He rushed outside and pierced the scissors into one lurker's forehead. A lurker alerted my attention as it went to gnaw at Jayden. I thought it was a long shot but it was the only thing that was going to save Jayden.

I saw the sharpened pencils in the box just asking to be used. I pulled one of them out. I aimed at the lurker's eye and launched it.

The pencil seeped through its eye, making it fall to the ground. Jayden turned, shocked to realise that I had just saved his life.

"Nice shot!" He exclaimed. "Behind you." He screamed after he noticed the lurker coming towards me. Without hesitation, I ripped another pencil from the box and stabbed the lurker in the eye, I kicked it away and conserved the pencil for another use.

Jayden and I were now knocking the undead down like dominoes, I noticed that Eli and Benji were just admiring us killing all of these monsters.

There were two left and we both took one out. When we killed them, again; we stood back and looked in awe at the amount of corpses that were laying on the ground.

I had just realised that I had no remorse on killing any of these creatures, this instinct kicked in as soon as Carolynne and Jaxson were in danger.

Jayden pointed his finger out and counted the dead on the ground. I was mind boggled and just had to go back inside.

I was met by Scarlett who looked worried, but I had no worries that my family were okay in her company, weirdly.

"How are they?" I asked.

"They're in the room, Carolynne's trying to calm him down but other than that, they're fine." Scarlett assured.

"Thank you." I said. Scarlett began to look sad, she noticed the bodies outside, it was as if she didn't believe it.

"How many were out there?" She stuttered.

"32 exactly." Jayden smugly walked in after barring the door shut and placing the bloody scissors back on the desk.

"32?" Scarlett and I said in unison.

"32" Jayden replied.


	7. The Need for Help

Chapter 7- The need for help.

The others in the group began to emerge from their rooms, Benji and Eli climbed back down off the roof.

"How the hell did thirty-two lurkers get into the nursery?" Aubree screamed, storming out of her room and into the play area, followed by an unsteadily walking Xavier.

I shared a look with Xavier; he looked uncomfortable with everything that went on. As much as I was pissed off with him, he didn't need the rest of the group on his back.

"I don't know, I was looking out the window and they just came in force." Aubree seemed to believe me and she sat down on the kiddie table and cupped her head into her hands.

"I think we should be talking about who was on patrol, who was supposed to be looking after all of us?" Jayden stepped forward and stood upright.

"I was just about to go on patrol, after Xavier." Eli explained to the group. With that, without hesitation; Jayden flung himself at Xavier, pushing him against the wall.

"Do you realise what you've done!" Jayden screamed in Xavier's face. He quivered in reply, too scared to open his mouth. Benji stood forward at touched his brother's shoulder.

"Come on, calm down." Jayden surprisingly slowly turned around and walked into his room, followed by Benji. Just before they entered their room, Jayden screamed.

"Who's on patrol?" Jayden knew how to work us all up; the group immediately began to flurry around aimlessly.

"I'll go." Eli sighed, obviously; it was his turn on the schedule… it was just us worrying. Eli climbed onto the roof as Edith weakly limped out of her room.

"Mum?" Carolynne darted over to her mother, who was as pale as the moon. She and Scarlett both hurled themselves under each of Edith's arms.

"Put her on the table." Xavier told the girls. They done as he asked and he pulled up a seat beside her. "Get the first-aid box; it's by the side of my bed on the cabinet."

I repeated the instructions to Jaxson who nodded and ran down the corridor. Xavier gently placed his forehand on Edith's forehead; he quickly pulled away in surprise.

"She's boiling up."

Jaxson ran in with the first-aid kit. Xavier yanked it open, pulling out a thermometer. He placed it in Edith's mouth and closed it.

Jaxson scurried over to where I was standing, observing all of this; next to Aubree, in the background. I was witnessing my wife breaking down in tears over her mother's ailing body. Jaxson looked up to me and I didn't know what to do, I just looked away.

"She has a really high temperature!" Xavier bellowed. He pulled out the bag of medicine from the kit, the meds that Jayden and I brought back from the pharmacy.

He threw bottles of tablets around, groaning to himself.

"What's wrong?" Carolynne quivered.

He jolted his head to reply, "There are just no tablets here to treat septicaemia."

"Septicaemia, is that what you thinks wrong with my mother?"

Xavier nodded.

"What's that, Jaxson asked."

"Poisoning of the blood."

Jaxson gave me a quizzical look but I dismissed him. "She's had it before, back in 2010, she was hospitalized."

"My mother had it too, when I was little." I was surprised in realising that Chase and Maddie were in the room and it was Maddie who told us that.

"It can be dangerous if Edith does not get a dosage of Insulin as soon as possible." Xavier looked at me extremely worried. Carolynne walked over to me looking strong.

"We'll go and get it for her." I was shocked, she really thought I'd let her go out into the danger.

"Carolynne, you can't go, I'll go alone." She looked at me, concerned but she saw the look in my eye and understood that I couldn't put her in any danger, she walked slowly back over to Edith. "Where can I find some?"

"There's a little village a few miles back from the way we came here, there's a hospital there, where my mother was being treated, and the hospital would have the insulin we need."

"I'll get ready and go straight away." I explained. Chase stood up from where he was seated.

"I'll go with you." It was nice to hear that someone was not willing for me to just go alone, but Xavier lifted his hand and he stood up from his kneeling position.

"No. I'll go, he will need help getting to the hospital and getting the insulin." There were no objections against him coming with me.

/

Filling my gun with ammo, I looked around the room, Jayden and Benji were still in their room, Aubree was up on the roof talking to Eli, I saw Maddie and Chase romancing in the corner and Scarlett was consoling Carolynne.

I felt a tug on my trouser leg, Jaxson sat on the ground beneath me.

"Is Grandma going to be okay?" It was horrible that he had to ask me this question, but I had no answer.

I tucked my pistol into my waist and lifted him off the floor. I brushed the specs of dust off his shoulders and looked into his eyes. How could I tell my son that his Grandmother is close to death?

"Xavier and I will get the medicine we need for Granny Edith and then she'll be as good as new by the morning." A smile slapped onto his face, the first smile I'd seen for a while.

"You ready?" Xavier stood at the door with his backpack on; he had briefed Scarlett on how to keep Edith stable until we come back.

I said goodbye to everyone and kissed Carolynne, promising her I'd be back. We were about to leave when Eli and Chase switched shifts.

When we left the stench hit us immediately, the 32 corpses lying on the ground. We had no time to move them or burn them, or do anything.

"Jayden will probably move them later." Xavier exclaimed.

We journeyed over to the Audi and jumped in. Xavier threw his backpack onto the back seat and I turned on the ignition.

As we began driving, Xavier pulled out a dark blue old-school radio; he stared at it, lifelessly.

"What's that?" I asked; I saw in the corner of my eye that he just sat still, staring at it.

"It was given to me… by my sister." He wiped a tear from his quickly reddening eye and looked away from me, out of the window.

"So you have a sister." I asked, keeping the conversation going.

"I guess we should be saying 'had' now..."

"Hey, don't think like that, your sister could me perfectly fine, keep up hope because without that, we don't have anything."

He seemed to have blanked me out, just staring out of the window, then looking at his gun. Then back out the window.

I continued to focus on the road when I heard Xavier's teary voice speaking into the radio. The static noise was fighting against it.

"Kym, if you're listening, just know I'm okay and I'll find you soon. Please contact me back to tell me where to find you." He cried into the radio as he pushed it against his face.

I didn't want to interfere so just focused on the road; there was a large corner in the distance which was just a couple of minutes away from the hospital.

I looked at Xavier as we hit the corner, he was still sobbing into the radio, fidgeting with his thumbs. I drew my attention back onto the road when I was met by a lurker, standing in the middle.

I slammed my foot down, jolting the car, along with Xavier who was struck into an upright position. I swung the steering wheel which set the car into a panic; it swerved into the lurker and flew off the road and into a wall.

The windscreen smashed and shards of glass stuck into my face and into Xavier's chest. The hood of the car was flung up, the car's alarm began to ring and my head was pushed into the dashboard. I turned my weakening head to see Xavier in a symmetric position to mine, unconscious.


End file.
